


Closer, Deeper

by bibliomaniac



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-10-10 04:25:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10429041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliomaniac/pseuds/bibliomaniac
Summary: A collection of BOTW oneshots (probably mostly or all revalink).





	1. Grooming

**Author's Note:**

> this oneshot was originally written as a request for Chimney (hiksi on tumblr)

It’s on the third night since Revali and Link confessed to each other when Revali asks curiously, “By the way, Link, what’s that…thing you do, where you put your mouth on my beak?” When Link stares at him, he rushes to clarify, “I mean, I’m not complaining, just…curious.”

“It’s a kiss, a sign of affection. You put your lips on…well, normally someone else’s lips, but you don’t have those, so. Do you not have those among the Rito?”

Revali looks at him doubtfully. “I don’t think so.”

“Interesting. What do you do to show you love someone, then?”

Revali knows the answer to that one. “You groom them, go through their feathers and make sure everything is in place. Actually,” he says, looking over Link critically, “You could do with some grooming yourself.”

“Hey!” Link protests.

“Link, do you ever brush your hair? Ever?”

“Sometimes,” he mumbles awkwardly.

“Right. Let me groom you.”

Link pauses, then grins. “So basically you’re begging me to let you Rito kiss me?”

Revali gives him an unimpressed look to hide his embarrassment. “If I say yes, will you allow me to?” 

Link snuggles back against Revali. “I could never deny you anything.”

Revali ignores the warm feeling in his heart at that and starts going through Link’s hair with his wingtips, making small clicking noises at the snarls he finds there. He works them out, slowly, and Link yawns.

“Feels nice,” he mumbles sleepily.

“I’m not hurting you?”

“Nah, s’good.” He rests a hand on Revali’s leg next to him. “Thank you.”

Revali hums his acknowledgement as he deftly twists a section of Link’s now smooth hair into a complex Rito braid, securing it with an extra piece of fabric that he keeps on his person in case one of his own braids comes out. He admires his handiwork. Link looks…well, he still looks like a Hylian, but one with a Rito mark on him. Revali likes it.

“Link,” he says finally. “I’m done.”

But Link doesn’t answer, and when Revali leans over, he sees Link’s eyes have closed.

He huffs—really, only fledglings fall asleep while being groomed— but as he lies down and rearranges them so that Link is curled around him, and as he puts his wing around Link, he can’t really bring himself to mind.


	2. Feathers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this time, for chelia24 on tumblr!

Revali is grooming Link’s hair like he does every night when Link runs his hands through Revali’s feathers idly.

Revali shivers, which Link catalogues for a later time, and he’s surprised to find a feather come out.

Link immediately sits up straight. “I’m so sorry. Did that hurt?”

“No, and stop moving. You’re going to wreck my braids, you ingrate.” He tugs on one of the braids pointedly.

Link looks at the feather. It’s fairly small, and deep, dark blue. “This is lovely,” he comments wonderingly.

Revali preens (metaphorically, of course; he’s presently otherwise occupied, and he doesn’t preen in front of Link anyway. That’s a bit private.) “Thank you,” he says proudly. “It is, isn’t it?”

Link continues to play with the feather until Revali is done. “Thanks,” Link says, dropping a kiss on Revali’s beak. “I’m sure they look lovely.” Then he sticks the feather in his hair and grins. “What do you think?”

“U-um.”

What does he think? He thinks that Link has never looked more beautiful, visibly showing that he’s Revali’s, that they have a part of each other with them always—

“Fine. It looks fine,” he says dismissively, and resolves to collect his feathers from now on.

And that’s how he comes to be at this point, crafting his feathers into a delicate headpiece. He’s not the best artisan—why should he be, he’s already the best at everything else, after all—but he likes what he ends up with.

He presents it to Link unceremoniously that evening, saying gruffly, “Here.”

Link blinks. “What?”

“I made this for you. It’s, uh, from my feathers. I figured you could wear it.”

When Link doesn’t respond, Revali scowls and looks away. “Never mind, it’s not like I care—”

“I love it,” Link says softly, a hand on Revali’s face. “Thank you.”

Revali brightens. “Well, of course you do. It looks amazing.”

They both look at it. Some of the feathers are sort of crooked, admittedly, but whatever. 

“It’s perfect. Help me put it on?” Link asks, fingers brushing over Revali’s wingtips, a glancing touch that makes Revali turn warm inside.

He fixes it to the back of Link’s head when he’s putting in the braids, and this time, when Link asks “How do I look?”, all Revali can think of to do is to nuzzle into Link’s shoulder and whisper, “Incredible.”

He’ll have to have a whole set of armor made, Revali concludes. It’s only logical.

(It’s not really, but then again, very little about their relationship is, and somehow they make it work anyway.)


	3. Braids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An anonymous suggestion on Tumblr-- 
> 
> Concept: link and revali braiding each other's hair (is that hair in revali's braids?? Idk rito anatomy??). Revali acts like he has the Superior Braiding Method And Skills (again idk how w/ rito anatomy) but revali is still just secretly loving having his braided by link
> 
> link comes back to rito village after some adventuring, clearly disheveled, but the braids are still nearly perfect, bc he cares so much about the work revali put into it. Of course revali has Something to say about the few stray hairs, but also recognizes how much link cares and feels Honored, even if he doesn’t show it

Revali hasn’t told Link yet, probably never will, but braiding each other’s hair in Rito culture is considered sort of…intimate. Like, the sort of thing only lovers do.

The first time it happens, one of Revali’s braids has come loose, and Link offers (innocently enough) to rebraid it. Revali squawks. If he could blush, he might consider doing so now.

“Why, Hylian, I never knew you felt that way,” Revali says, and he’ll never admit that he’s sort of pleased. Even if he doesn’t reciprocate Link’s feelings, obviously, having the good regard of the Princess’s knight is another feather in his metaphorical cap.

Link blinks. “I don’t think anybody much likes seeing loose braids,” he says, clearly confused. “But if you don’t want me to…”

Oh. Well, that’s sort of a flap in the face.

Link continues, “I just figured it might be hard, with, you know.”

Revali smiles dangerously. “With what.”

Link makes a sort of flapping movement with his arms. He looks ridiculous, which almost makes up for the fact that he’s just dissed Revali’s braiding skills.

“I’ll have you know that I am the best at braiding, as in all things,” Revali informs Link haughtily. “How do you think these got here, anyway?” He gestures at his other braids.

Link has the decency to look embarrassed. “Travelers?”

“Perish the thought. I would never let a dirty traveler touch my beautiful feathers.” He shudders.

Link shifts his weight to his other foot awkwardly. He looks so lost, so out of place, that Revali decides to take pity on him. “But a Champion, that’s another thing. Hop on over.”

It’s a clumsy braid, nowhere near as elegant as Revali’s, but the sensation is sort of nice, anyway.

The next time it happens, Link comes into Revali’s abode drenched and shivering.

“You’re tracking mud everywhere,” Revali mutters, but he allows it because he is above all merciful. “Come, I’ll make a fire.”

It turns out when Link’s hair dries it sort of poofs everywhere. Revali can’t let Link leave looking like that, not from his dwelling—they’ll think he was responsible, for the Goddess’ sake—so he sighs and begins to braid Link’s hair back. 

Link looks surprised, but he thanks him anyway.

“You should be thankful, yes,” Revali says dismissively, and thinks no more of it.

(Well, okay, maybe he sometimes thinks of how odd Link’s smooth Hylian hair felt sliding through his feathers, but that’s just because it was weird.)

The thing is, though, when Link next travels back to Rito Village with a few new scars and an abundance of bruises, looking incredibly disheveled, his braids are still nearly perfect.

Not completely, Revali notices, looking over them critically. There are a few hairs out of place. He’ll have to yell at Link about that later, once he’s woken up. But it’s nice to know Link appreciated his work.

It becomes sort of a thing, after that. Revali will braid Link’s hair before he goes out doing whatever it is he does across Hyrule, and Link will braid Revali’s feathers. Not because it feels nice, or because he enjoys the shocked and envious looks he gets from the other Rito when it happens, but because Link needs to repay him somehow for his excellent braiding skills, so.

And anyway, when Link smiles back at him, hair bearing Revali’s braids, it’s all sort of worth it.


	4. Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another request for hiksi on tumblr! based on [this post](http://hiksi.tumblr.com/post/158856595071/flower-shop-au)

Revali doesn’t like Link. He doesn’t like how the Princess chose him above Revali, the best archer in the Rito, thank you very much. He doesn’t like how Link refuses to talk to him (or anybody else, but that shouldn’t matter). He doesn’t like how Link’s hair glistens gold in the sunlight, or how his eyes are as blue and deep as the sky, or how when he smiles—

Anyway, the point is, he doesn’t like him. So. That’s all you need to know, really.

He storms into the Rito herbalist’s shop and demands, “You know flowers, right?”

They blink, surprised. “Yes?”

“How do you say ‘I detest you’ in flower?”

He sets out on a small quest that very same day. Basil (I hate you) is simple enough, they use it in their cooking; coltsfoot (justice shall be done you) grows around the mountain, and he’s able to scare up some yellow carnations (You have disappointed me) from around the village, but where to find the furze (anger), meadowsweet (uselessness), rocket (rivalry), and orange lilies (I hate you, again, for good measure)? 

He’s finally gathered them all with the help of a plant seller he found wandering somewhere or other, and he triumphantly arranges them and presents them to Link that very night.

Link slowly smiles, and Revali absolutely does not notice or care about how it lights up the room. “You got me flowers?”

Revali frowns. “I—”

“Thank you,” Link says, and he rests his hand on Revali’s wing, just for a moment. “That was very sweet of you. Nobody’s ever gotten flowers for me before.”

“I…um…you’re welcome.” Well, he can’t tell him now, can he? Not with his eyes looking so very blue, and his smile looking so very warm, and…

Yeah. He won’t tell him.

It’s only when he comes across Link and Zelda discussing floral arrangements for his and Revali’s wedding—flowers and Hylians, he swears—that the truth comes out, because Link is saying to Zelda, “How about white camellias for adoration, orange blossoms for eternal love, and peonies for a happy marriage?”

“Wait,” says Revali dangerously, connecting the pieces. “You knew?”

Link blinks up at him innocently, then says, “Of course I did.”

“You—” 

“It was very creative, by the way, but in the future, if you really want to tell someone you hate them, there are probably better ways than searching across all of Hyrule for flowers.”

Revali pouts, and Link drops a kiss on his beak. “I love you,” he says softly. “Don’t be mad?”

“I’m not,” he says, and nuzzles into Link’s neck to show he’s being truthful. “I love you too.”

(And, yes, because he’s incredibly petty, he gives Link a bouquet of foxgloves (deception) that night, but there’s some daphne odora in there as well: “I would not have you otherwise”, because it’s true in more ways than one.)


	5. so this is what it feels like (being at the right place, the right time)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from right place right time by olly murs
> 
> this time, it's a request for link/kass by seiranxl on tumblr

It’s on quiet nights like these, when even the sound of his accordion can’t pierce through the nigh-oppressive silence, that he hates his teacher for cursing him to a lifetime of wandering. 

“Pass on all of my songs to the chosen knight” is the sort of promise that sounds less time-intensive than it really is. Consumed with the desire to aid his beloved teacher, the one who had given him music, the one who had given him everything, he had agreed, but here he is seven years later, all of the songs passed on, and what does he have to show for it? Sure, the Calamity is gone, but so is his wife. Was it worth it?

He hears a quiet tread through the grass behind him and looks behind, only to see the Knight himself, who holds up his hands to indicate he means no harm.

“It appears you truly do find me wherever I go,” Kass jokes, the words ringing hollow, “even when I intend not to be found.”

The Knight—no, Link, that’s all he is now that the crisis is over—smiles apologetically.

“Were you just wandering, or did you intend to find me?”

Link shrugs. “I was wandering, but I am pleased I came across you nonetheless.”

“Come, sit,” Kass says, seeing Link staring awkwardly at the place next to him. “No sense in you being uncomfortable.”

He sits, then looks up at Kass. His eyes are very blue, Kass notices, not unlike the color of his own feathers. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

Kass huffs, not quite a laugh. “I could ask you the same. I heard news you were with the Princess.”

“Yes. She wants to go across Hyrule doing good, building it back to its former glory.”

Kass doesn’t miss the look in those blue eyes—a quiet despair. He’s seen it often enough in himself. “You don’t?”

“I…I’ve done quite a lot of traveling,” Link says, almost whispering, like he can scarcely bear to say it aloud. “I think I’d like to stay in one place for once.” Then, eyes widening in horror, he rushes to add, “Not that I don’t get Zelda’s perspective. She’s been stuck in that castle for a hundred years. I imagine the prospect of staying still for even a few days is an unattractive one. But—”

“No, I understand,” Kass says, gazing out towards the horizon. “There’s something nice about having a home to return to.”

Link smiles, but it’s subdued. “I suppose your home is with your wife and daughters?”

Kass winces. “My wife…didn’t agree with my constant traveling. We’re no longer together. She still lets me visit the girls, though.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Kass waves it off. “It’s an old hurt by this point.”

“But a hurt nonetheless.” Link sighs, laying down on the ground to look at the stars. “So many people have been hurt. I can’t help but wonder how much of it I could have prevented by being better one hundred years ago.”

Kass looks down at him and wonders how one person can hold so much in them all at once.

“You are not responsible for all the evil in this world,” Kass says. 

“I suppose not,” Link says, and the starlight in his eyes shines. “But I am responsible for some of it.”

“As are we all.” For some reason, he wants to comfort this boy, to tell him that he can rest.

Link’s lips curve into another wan smile. “But perhaps me more than most.”

“Goddess, you’re stubborn,” Kass says without thinking too much about it.

His surprised laughter makes the thoughtlessness worth it, though, and it fills the air around them in the way his accordion couldn’t.

  


* * *

  
They continue to meet now and then, and Kass can see the toll all of this wandering about takes on him. They talk, and Link opens up, and Kass does the same. Eventually they get to a point where they can accurately call one another friend.

They’re both looking at the stars one night when Link says thoughtfully, “Home seems so far some days, but somehow it seems somewhat closer when I’m with you.” Kass looks over at him, shocked and secretly pleased at the sentiment, and Link just offers him a sheepish grin. “I suppose it’s because you understand me so well.”

“I will bear that honor with pride, then,” he says, a light tease in his voice. “Official home of the Champion of Hyrule.”

“I like that,” Link says, and if he rolls a little closer, nestling into Kass’ side, neither of them mention it.

The problem, after that, is that Kass can’t forget the warmth of the Hylian at his side, or _home seems closer when I’m with you_ , and it slowly occurs to him that he feels exactly the same way.

And, perhaps, a little bit more. 

Next time they meet, Kass opens with a somewhat nervous, “When you imagine home, what do you think of?”

“Other than you?” Link asks with teasing smile, and Kass’ heart about jumps out of his chest before he remembers their conversation from last time.

“I mean, like, do you imagine…a specific place? A…” He hesitates. “A specific person?”

Link pauses. “I suppose…I imagine someplace warm, and solid, and unchanging. And…I suppose when I got there, I’d like to have someone waiting for me.”

“Someone?” Kass ekes out, feeling like he’s choking, his heart is so far up his throat.

“Someone,” Link confirms. “Someone who makes it feel like home.”

“Someone…sort of like me, perhaps?” Kass asks, squeezing his eyes shut so he doesn’t have to see Link reject him.

“Someone,” Link says, his voice very close, “Exactly like you.”

He opens his eyes, and Link’s face is right there, and his eyes are shining, and he whispers, “Tell me if I’m reading this wrong,” and he presses a soft kiss to the place where his beak meets his feathers.

Kass beams softly, and he says, “You read that exactly right.”

That night, Kass plays Link to sleep, and it’s the nice sort of quiet, where his accordion and his voice fill the air just right, and it’s on the first of many nights like these that Kass is grateful to his teacher for giving him a lifetime of a home with someone who loves him.


	6. Running / Fighting / Driving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all right these are short little things based on anonymous requests on tumblr from an ask meme. all are revalink
> 
> cw in last one for drunkenness/alcohol

**first request: revali kisses link in the middle of a fight and then bolts**

Revali and Link don’t get along. They spend most of their time bickering, and when they’re not, they’re not speaking to each other at all. 

It’s not like Revali hasn’t tried to be nice to Link before. Zelda had yelled at him once about it, said something about ‘you ess tee’ and how if they weren’t civil civil she’d lock them in a closet together until it became “arr ess tee”, whatever the crap that’s supposed to mean, but it sounded sufficiently threatening. So he had walked up to Link and tried to say something nice, but then Link had turned around and his eyes had been so very blue and his hair so very golden that instead he had shouted something insulting regarding Link’s archery stance and they had begun to squabble again. 

He doesn’t even know exactly what they’re fighting about right now, if he’s being honest. The appeal of long-ranged weapons over short-ranged ones, maybe? But he’s honestly getting tired of it, and Link won’t stop talking, and his lips are very pink, and suddenly they’re also very close, and then Revali is kissing him.

It’s different than he had imagined. Not that he had imagined it, or anything. Link doesn’t do anything at all at first, but then he starts to kiss back, and Revali is lost.

After some time, his tongue swipes across Link’s lips almost absentmindedly, and Link makes a little moaning noise, and he realizes what he’s doing.

He steps back, clapping a hand to his mouth, eyes wide.

Link looks equally surprised, his cheeks the same red of his well-kissed lips, and Revali almost goes back in to kiss him again, but instead he turns around and runs.

(Later, they’ll talk, and later, they’ll kiss some more.

But for now, he runs, and he presses his hand to his lips, feeling the ghost of Link still present there.)

* * *

**second request: revali and link try to one-up each other but tie on who's a better kisser**

Neither of them are exactly certain how it started.

Well, that’s not exactly true. It started, as so many things do, with Revali being a pompous blowhard.

He’s watching Link cook one day when he says idly, “I bet I’m a better cook than you.”

Link’s grip on his spatula tightens, and that’s when Revali knows he’s made a mistake. You do not insult Link’s cooking. “Oh, um, I mean–”

“You’re on,” Link says dangerously, and that’s how they end up cooking for their mutual friend Mipha, who mostly just looks flummoxed.

“I mean, they’re both good,” she says hesitantly after trying them.

“Oh, but Revali thinks he’s better.” Link says irritably. “Is he?”

“I’d actually say this one goes to Link,” Mipha says, closing her eyes to prepare for the inevitable fallout.

Link smirks smugly at Revali, who puffs up angrily. “Okay, well, I bet I’m better than you at archery!”

Revali wins that one, but it doesn’t set things to rights. Link wants another rematch, and then Revali, and pretty soon they’re competing over pretty much everything. Karaoke, DDR, dishes, laundry; nothing is sacred. 

Everyone is, frankly, starting to get tired of it. It’s Urbosa who gets the idea to whisper something in Revali’s ear.

“Good idea, Urbosa, thanks. I bet I’m the better kisser!”

Link huffs. “Want to test that theory?”

Revali suddenly looks a bit unsure. “On–on you?”

“Who else?” Link grins nastily. “What, you scared you’ll lose?”

Revali scowls. “Of course not!” He charges forward and takes Link’s face in his hands, then presses his lips against Link’s.

Link kisses back, giving as good as he gets, until they’re both red-faced and flushing.

“That’s…that was a tie,” Revali mumbles. 

“Yeah. Definitely a tie,” Link concedes, then looks nervous. “But, um…maybe that’ll change. Want to have a rematch sometime?”

Revali slowly smiles. “Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

(He doesn’t see Link pass Urbosa a twenty as they walk off together, or hear his whispered, “Thanks for going along with that,” or her hissed, “You owe me so much more than twenty dollars for making me watch that”, but honestly, he probably wouldn’t have cared much if he did.)

* * *

**last request: revali gets drunk and link drives him home**

“Daruk, you may think you’re so stronggg, and biggg, and tall, and you are,” Revali slurs loudly. “But you’re not…not tall…in your heart.” He burps. “Where it counts.”

Daruk, who’s only had one beer, merely looks amused. “That so?”

“What, you’re, you’re challenging me?” Revali demands, eyes unfocused. “Are you saying you wanna fight me? I’ve always wanted to fight you. I’ll win. Bring it on, you partial gorilla.”

“All right,” Link says tiredly. “Looks like that’s our cue. Come on, Revali, bet you can’t follow me out to the car.”

“Watch me,” he hisses, eyes lighting up. 

When they get in the car, Revali slumps over in the seat, disappointed. “You tricked me. I wanted to fight him,” he accuses petulantly. 

“Maybe another time,” Link says, patting Revali’s hand. “Now it’s time to go home.”

Revali keeps up a running narrative the entire way back to his apartment, mostly about why he doesn’t like Daruk. They reach the apartment, and at the door, Revali turns and asks, “Know why I like you, Link?”

“Why is that?” Link says patiently.

“You’re warm. Like…” He searches for an appropriate simile. “Potatoes.”

Link purses his lips to hide a grin. “Potatoes?”

“Warm ones,” Revali confirms, nodding importantly. “And you try really hard, and you’re pretty, and you drive me home.”

“All good things.”

“Yes,” Revali says, face gentler, “All good things.”

They stare at each other a few moments, then Link opens Revali’s door. (He’s had keys for a while. It’s a best friend thing, he tells himself.) “All right. Good night, Revali.”

“Good night,” Revali says, sounding subdued.

(It’s not a best friend thing, and he’s not as drunk as he was pretending. But this is the most he can have right now.)


	7. Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another anonymous request from tumblr, asking for link as a kindergarten teacher who loves kids and revali as the kindergarten-teacher-by-necessity whose kids are scared of him. (it didn't specify revalink, but i Did It Anyway)

Revali hates children. They’re sticky and gross and they talk back constantly and they don’t listen when you tell them to do things and they’re not all potty-trained.

So, of course, he became a kindergarten teacher.

It wasn’t really his idea. He has a psychology degree, but you can’t do crap with a psychology degree without a Master’s or above, and he doesn’t have the money to go to grad school right now. So he sucks it up and looks for a job, and surprise, surprise, every single one has to do with children. It’s kind of weird that you need a Master’s to deal with adults but only a Bachelor’s for kids, he thinks, but it’s what it is, so he sends out his resume (which pretty much consists of being a research assistant at his university lab, because that’s what he wants to actually _do_ , darn it), and eventually he gets the interview at Hyrule Elementary. Their last candidate had a family emergency and had to withdraw, and the school year starts in a week. They ask him if he’s good with kids. He lies.

He gets the job.

The problem is, he’s awful with kids. He walks in and one of them starts crying because his face is scary, and then another one starts crying because the first one is crying, and then he’s got a whole classroom of inconsolable five-year-olds, who are crying because they miss their moms and their new teacher has a piercing he forgot to take out and, well, because they’re five.

“Please stop,” he begs them, and it’s to this scene that the next-door teacher–of Kindergarten Group A, is the formal name, but technically they call themselves the Hylians–walks in, face incredibly amused.

“What’s the problem?” he asks, and Revali is so stressed that he doesn’t even notice that this guy is pretty much the cutest guy he’s ever seen.

(Well, he notices a _little_. But.)

“I took out my piercings when they started crying, but now apparently I’ve got holes in my face and that’s scary too,” Revali moans, running his hands over his face.

The other teacher nods, eyes dancing. “Gotcha. Hey, everyone, what’s up?”

“Hole monster,” one of them sobs, pointing. 

“Hey, hey, he’s not a monster! He’s actually from a magical race of bird people called the Rito. They can fly and everything. Those things he had in his face were just magic beads. All the Rito wear them.”

A few stop crying. One of them says doubtfully, “He don’t look like bird.”

“That’s because he’s been cursed,” the teacher says in a low voice, like he’s telling a secret. “A witch cursed him for telling a lie.” He winks at Revali, who flushes embarrassedly. “So what he has to do now is help you guys, and if he helps enough of you learn and grow up nice and smart, she’ll turn him back to a bird and he can go back to live with his family.”

All of them are listening, enraptured. 

“So you have to help him too, okay? I bet there’s a reward in it for you if you do.”

“ ‘Ward?”

“Like a present! A present you get for being nice. How about you start by getting out some sheets of paper and your crayons and doing a drawing of what you think he looks like as a bird?”

They all nod firmly and start to totter away. The teacher leans over and whispers, “You can do ‘president of the classroom’ or something for rewards. Works pretty well with my kids.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Revali says fervently.

“You can ask me if you ever need some more help, okay?” He grins mischievously. “Which you will.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Revali mutters.

“I’m Link, by the way. And you are?”

“Revali.”

“Well, Revali. I look forward to getting to know you.” He looks Revali up and down in an assessing manner, then says lowly, “I think we’ll be _very_ good friends, don’t you?”

Revali chokes. Link just laughs brightly, then waves goodbye, walking out of the classroom and into the room next door.

“Hey, Mr. Bird Man,” one of the kids calls out, “What color are your feathers?”

“Blue,” he says absentmindedly. Like the color of Link’s eyes, he thinks.

Revali may hate kindergarteners, but he thinks he could get used tosnarky blue-eyed golden-haired kindergarten _teachers_.


	8. Seduction, Of A Sort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this was written at the new revalink discord after a discussion about the dlc outfits and how link would look in each of the champions' outfits

It didn't start out as a seduction. Link just wanted to try on some nice new clothes. But that also doesn't mean that he missed the way Revali squawked and stormed off in a huff of feathers after the first outfit, the one inspired by Urbosa's clothes, and that doesn't mean he's not going to take full advantage of it. Link knows his assets, after all.

He thinks that Revali will finally break after the Daruk one, but he's not giving Revali enough credit, clearly, because Revali just makes a strangled noise and buries his head in a nearby patch of sand. After the Mipha one, Revali doesn't make any noise at all--just walks away with an eerie calm. That lasts for about a minute, but all of the Champions can hear him screaming from his place in the field adjacent to the road they're on.

Link is really getting rather impatient, so he pulls out the big guns. If Revali doesn't get a clue when he wears his armor, there's really no hope for him at all. He artfully picks up a few fallen feathers and twines them in his hair, because that visiting Rito had been quite happy to tell him all about the significance of feathers in Rito courting, and because he's a bit of a sadist.

When Revali sees him this time, he stares at Link for a few long moments, then bodily picks him up and swings him over a shoulder, muttering, "Heave ho." Link is rather pleased at the prospect of a rather long-awaited ravishing, but to his dismay, Revali only sets him down in a vacant room a while from the banquet hall, gaze inscrutable.

"Right," Revali says finally, "We need to talk."

"Talking? Now?" Link signs, pouting in a way that he knows other people find rather attractive.

Revali's beak clacks together. "Yes. Talking. Specifically, about--" He gestures wildly. "Your choice in clothing of late."

"I've been told I looked rather fetching," Link signs, blinking demurely. "Do you disagree?"

Revali scowls. "No. Yes. I mean--hm. Okay, Link, my point is, when I first saw you in that outfit like Urbosa's, I assumed you were--staking a claim, of sorts, yes? But then...Daruk...and Mipha...and...I'm not going to judge you, but now /me/ also? I'm forced to conclude you don't know what you're doing."

Link smiles, walking closer. "No," he signs, "I know exactly what I'm doing."

Revali's eyes narrow. "You're wearing my feathers, Link, I'm fairly certain that you're not intending to make the proposition that that's seen as among my people. Now, we can sort this whole mess out, just go back to wearing your nice blue shirt--" 

"You," Link signs with a roll of his eyes, drawing ever closer, "Are incredibly dense. I know precisely what these feathers mean, and I know precisely what it did to you to see me in all of those outfits. After all," he smiles even wider, "They didn't leave much to the imagination, did they? I don't want you to have to imagine anything with me." 

Revali's eyes widen, and he makes what is probably best termed as a death rattle. "Right then," Revali says, strangled. "I see."

"Would you like to see more?" Link signs with a devious grin, sliding a hand up his side to the scarf that he's wearing. He's not at all expecting Revali to let out one last croak and then crumple on the floor. 

Link stares down at the man doing his best impression of a corpse, then beams. Well, he thinks, it could have gone worse. 

And if he stays with Revali until he wakes up, and if Revali immediately drags him to his quarters with a slightly glazed look in his eyes, well, that's really no one's business but their own.

 (And the Champions, who knew what was going on the entire time. Link, after all, isn't very subtle.)


	9. Worse Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's 3am which means my inhibitions are at about nil and there is nothing keeping me from posting this 5-minute beedlink crack i wrote in the revalink chat
> 
> basically we were talking about how beedle appears in so many of the games and we concluded he was an elder god taking on beedle's form bc he's into bowl cuts and then someone (it was probably me) suggested it was bc he was watching over link and someone else brought up that link is temporarily a god too and that they should totally get together
> 
> anyway, sorry for this monstrosity

This all started because Beedle is a weak, weak god. Or...well, no, if he's being technical, it started because he's incredibly petty, and his sister Hylia _will_ not shut _up_ about her favorite new human, and he decides that if he's so _special_ and _amazing_ and if he _looks so good in the color green_ then he might as well take a look for himself.

So that's how he comes to take the form of an inconspicuous, lanky shopkeeper with a rather atrocious bowl cut. For observation only. And honestly, he _still_ doesn't get it. Yes, the color green suits the boy, and yes, he's very heroic and all, and yes, it gives him immense pleasure to drop the boy from his shop in the air, but there's not...a spark, or anything. He doesn't see what his sister does. So he decides to keep watching until he gets it. He's become rather fond of this form anyway, bowl cut and all.

He watches as the boy gets a weird hat, and as the boy becomes four boys (?), as the boy is small and big and small again. Sometimes he is Beedle, sometimes he is a mailman--the physical activity is something to do, he supposes--and sometimes he's just an invisible force watching over it all.

Everything splits, eventually, and he too splits his consciousness to keep his vigil. There's the one where he loses--that one is depressing and odd, he doesn't like it--and two of the one where he wins. It all gets a bit confusing, especially because he's starting to get _attached_ , and the boy--Link--is a kid but also not and Beedle really shouldn't have to deal with this kind of moral quagmire.

He keeps going back to one, though: the one where Link joins him as an elder god. It's only for a moment, really, just the smallest blip in the vast fabric of spacetime, but he finds he can manipulate the timeline slightly to allow them to meet before Link takes the mask off and goes back to normal.

The thing is, Link-as-a-god _remembers_ , and he _understands_. He freezes time to allow them to talk, him and his fierce deity, and slowly he begins to understand what his sister has seen all this time. It's...worrisome, at best. Attachment is dangerous, attachment to _any_ of these Links is dangerous, but especially to the one that barely exists for a few moments before he is gone.

But it's too late. He goes back, and back, and back again, and neither of them are surprised in the end when Link-as-a-god asks for them to be bound together forever.

His fellow gods are...unhappy about that. They strip him of his powers but leave him with his memories, stuck in the body that he used to love but that now feels like a curse, an anchor keeping him stuck to this world that he is drowning in, and he can't be with his fierce deity anymore, and all he has is his bowl cut and a backpack.

There's a Link here, too, of course. There always is. He's a bit cold at first, because he reminds him of what he lost and how he lost it. Not rude, exactly--cordial, is perhaps the best word; they are customer and shopkeeper and nothing more.

But Link keeps coming _back_ , and Beedle _knows_ it's just for supplies, he _knows_ that, but there's something of the one he loved in his smile and while he looked best in green, he looks a sight in blue also, and...curse it all, he can't just _stop_ watching over the boy he's looked after for longer than time.

It's a lapse, he'll admit it, on a day when he's feeling particularly tired and old, that he says, "We must have been married in another life." It's true, but he knows Link doesn't know it. He watches as Link's face twists in confusion, watches as Link finally shrugs and offers a hesitant smile before walking away.

It's the kind of hurt he'd never felt as a god, and he wonders--not for the first nor the last time--if all of this was worth it.

But then one day Link walks towards him again, and he is still Link but Link-as-a-god, his very own fierce deity, and he whispers, "Did you really think I wouldn't find you?", and Beedle thinks that there are probably worse things than being in love.


	10. A Fire, Lit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for video-game-typical violence and deaths

Revali hates to admit it and won’t if you ask, but before Link took his hundred-year-nap, he was…competent. Not as good an archer as Revali, _obviously,_ but he wasn’t horrid, and he was handy with close combat as well. Maybe even better than Revali was at the same subject. Which didn’t change anything—Revali still hated him—but it was refreshing to know that he wouldn’t just up and die at the first sign of a fight.

He can’t say the same thing now, because Link is only just out of the Shrine of Resurrection, and he’s…standing in a fire. Ostensibly he’s attempting to pick up some apples he threw haphazardly into the campfire, but he’s still standing in the middle of a fire, and he looks almost _surprised_ when his clothes start smoking, then catch.

It’s an uncomfortable way to die and also _completely_ unnecessary, and Revali is too flabbergasted to even call him out on it. (The other Champions just stare at Revali with amused smiles playing on their faces. They tell him later that they knew Link would come back, but they didn’t bother informing him, so he squawks disbelievingly and—apparently—in a way that is funny to those traitors.)

Link appears before them slowly, blinking, then smiles brightly. “Hey! Who are you guys? Is this heaven?” Which, what. He’s _talking_ now? Good Goddess.

He disappears soon enough, though, Revali with an expression later described by Daruk as looking like “[he] had a boulder shoved up [his] cl—” Revali stopped him there, with an expression probably equally as interesting.

Unfortunately, Link only continues in his complete ineptitude. He goes exploring, then gets frostbite from just _staying_ in the cold, as if marveling that cold weather can hurt. He gets killed by a Bokoblin, and not even one of the bad ones. He falls through the patchy ceiling on the Temple of Time right next to a ladder, and then proceeds to fall off the Sheikah Tower twice. _Twice,_ and admittedly the first time was an accident, but Revali could have _sworn_ he heard Link say, “This height is probably fine, right?” before cheerfully leaping off a platform about halfway up. Revali’s wingtips are flexing, and by that point he’s contemplating screaming.

Each time Link dies he appears before them, and each time he asks them questions, but they don’t respond. It’s sort of against the rules, anyway, but Revali is pretty sure the others are just too busy cracking up about him going purple in the feathers.

It’s when Link attempts to bomb a Guardian and it predictably shoots him with a laser beam that Revali has had enough. This time when Link appears, Revali explodes, “If I have to watch this all through my afterlife, I will kill you myself, and with extreme prejudice. Look, you can’t kill a Guardian with the equipment or knowledge you have right now. You also can’t kill a blue Bokoblin with a stick, and you can’t go up in the mountains with a threadbare shirt, and you can’t leap off of high surfaces without a paraglider _,_ and you _can’t step into a lit fire!”_

Revali is clearly fuming, but Link just looks interested, like he’s in a classroom for a particularly interesting lesson. “Oh, really?”

“Yes really!” Revali snaps. “What, have you completely lost your mind?”

“I don’t have any memories,” Link says slowly. “About anything. So…I can talk, and walk, and climb, but that’s about it.”

Revali deflates slightly. “Hm. Well…I suppose that won’t do, if you’re to avenge us all.”

“Probably not. Sorry.” He looks a bit crushed again, and Revali sighs internally.

“Well, as the best here, I suppose I am also the best equipped to teach you,” Revali says, puffing up even as he screams at himself inside, _what are you doing, you hate him_.

Link looks up, eyes shining. “You’d do that for me?” 

“Not for you,” Revali corrects with a frown. “For us all. Because Goddess help us, but you’re the only one left.”

“Thanks,” Link says delightedly, then pauses. “But how will I get back here? I always end up going back.”

Revali snorts derisively. “Oh, you’ll be here again in no time.”

Link disappears after that, but sure enough, a half hour later he’s back, looking sheepish.

“Okay, second lesson,” Revali says after a moment spent trying to collect himself. “You can’t breathe water.”

 

* * *

 

His lessons get more complex as time goes on, as they move into swordplay and archery (of course). Revali teaches him what he knows, and Link starts to die less often. Which…is good, obviously. It was the point.

Somehow, though, Revali finds himself dissatisfied.

He can’t really pin it down. It’s something about how Link’s face crinkles up when he laughs at a bad joke Revali made, or perhaps in how Link hangs on to his every word, or how his hand lingers when they brush against Revali’s wingtips. It’s in how he doesn’t really hate Link anymore, or how he gets almost excited about getting to see Link again.

The point comes when Link stops dying altogether, and Revali doesn’t understand why he feels so…empty, all of a sudden, so bored, so—if you’ll pardon his pun—dead. It’s around this time that Link gets to Rito Village and gains back his memories of Revali, and Revali isn’t really surprised at how Link’s eyes narrow. He knows he wasn’t nice by any stretch of the imagination, and it probably doesn’t matter that they’ve gotten, well, closer. Not in the face of all that he did when they were both still alive.

So, when Link defeats Windblight Ganon, like Revali always knew he would, he remains impassive, and Link’s face remains inscrutable. The transaction is almost businesslike. As much as Revali wants to remind him of what they had, he knows in the end they didn’t really _have_ anything. They were teacher and student, and only out of necessity, and now it wasn’t necessary anymore. So. It’s…fine. It’s fine that Link doesn’t die anymore, and it’s fine that he doesn’t say anything when they award Revali’s old bow to him, because Link doesn’t need him anymore and, as previously mentioned, it’s all really just fine.

It is to Revali’s surprise, then, that Link dies as he’s about to fight Ganon.

It’s not that Ganon hits him, or anything. Or, well, not exactly. He falls out of this weird cocoon on the ceiling and Link is just…in the wrong place. He gets, to put it coarsely, squished.

Link immediately runs up to Revali when he’s fully there, smile back and blinding, and surprise is not big enough a word to explain how Revali feels when Link kisses him on the beak.

“I—beg your pardon?” Revali splutters.

“I didn’t know for sure I’d get to see you again after Ganon is dead,” Link says breathlessly. “I had to—I don’t know. I had to come here, to see you. I had to tell you—”

He’s already starting to dissipate, and he looks helpless for a moment, muttering, “I thought I’d have more time. Revali, I know we didn’t always get along before, and I don’t even know if you _like_ me, but I had to tell you that I—” 

Revali doesn’t get to hear, because Link is gone, and the cocoon is opening again, and this time Link steps out of the way, but his head is hanging.

“I’m sorry,” he says, so quietly Revali can barely hear. “I can’t die here.”

And he doesn’t. Revali blasts Ganon with the full power of Vah Medoh, and Link fights admirably, and Revali doesn’t even have time to think about what Link might have been about to say, because everything goes dark.

 

* * *

 

When he next wakes up, he’s on a familiar field, and Link is a little way away talking with Zelda. It’s then that it comes to Revali both what Link might have been about to say, and also what Revali might have been able to say back. 

He strides over to Link, tapping him imperiously on the shoulder until Link whirls around. His eyes widen and go teary, and he whispers, “Revali?”

“I love you too, you utter nincompoop,” Revali says against his ear. “You could’ve been less dramatic about it, by the way.”

Link is beaming when he pulls back, and he says happily, “Oh, you love drama.”

“True,” Revali admits.

“Oh, I knew it!” Daruk’s voice rings out.

“I had it pegged from the first Guardian,” Urbosa says smugly.

Mipha looks a bit sad, but she shrugs. “I knew from Rito Village.”

Zelda just looks bewildered. “What on earth happened while I was in that castle?” she demands. “Why are you guys in love now?” 

Link takes Revali’s wing, and his face crinkles in the way that Revali likes—no, loves—and he says, “I stepped into a lit fire.”

And Zelda is confused, and the other Champions roll their eyes, but Revali is alive and with the one he loves, so he holds Link close and ignores everything other than the feeling of Link nestled against his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is based off my incredibly poor video-game playing skills


End file.
